Arne Slot blamed Liverpool's below-par performance against Wolves on fatigue and expressed relief after seeing his players overcome a stern mental test at Anfield.

Liverpool restored their seven-point lead over Premier League title rivals Arsenal with a 2-1 victory over Vitor Pereira's strugglers, though they had to work for the points.

Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah struck to hand the Reds a 2-0 first-half lead, but after Salah had a potential second strike disallowed for offside and a penalty won by Diogo Jota was overturned following a VAR review, Wolves stormed back into the contest.

Matheus Cunha's long-range curler gave them hope of a memorable fightback, but they were just unable to find a late equaliser despite piling on the pressure.

It was the first time on record (since 2003-04) that Liverpool failed to record a single shot in the second half of a Premier League game at Anfield, with Wolves attempting 10 shots.

But Slot was delighted to see his backline survive a tense finish, particularly after conceding a 98th-minute equaliser in Wednesday's 2-2 derby draw with Everton.

"It's just as big as all the other ones. I said in the dressing room that maybe you come in a bit disappointed because it wasn't our best second half. But we fought until the end," Slot told Sky Sports.

"In a season where you want to achieve something, no matter what you want to achieve, you need to have wins like this as well. 

"Two weeks ago, we played fantastic football when we beat Spurs 4-0. That happens in a season. But wins like this should also be part of a season like this."

Liverpool had never previously gone a full half of Premier League football at home without attempting a shot (since 2003-04), and Slot felt tired legs played a major part.

"It's never the gameplan, not to create anything at all! We did have a few promising situations, but one of them was disallowed for offside, one of them was a penalty overturned by VAR," he added.

"We were not enough of a goal threat in the second half. You always wonder if it comes from running a lot of mental fatigue after all the events that happened in the last game. 

"Again, today we were mentally tested. We thought we had the third, we thought we had the penalty for the third - both were correctly handled by the referee. But then conceding for 2-1 afterwards, that was a mental test. 

"If you feel the stress, maybe you feel a bit tired. It was maybe the first time this season that players were more tired than they were in other games."

Liverpool can now go 10 points clear at the summit when they visit Aston Villa for a rearranged game on Wednesday, with Arsenal not in action again until next Saturday.

Slot does not expect the pace of the title race to let up, adding: "You can never breathe in this competition. Arsenal are on a 15-game unbeaten run with 10 wins, five draws. 

"During these 15 games, the gap has always been seven points. So that tells you what we do and what they do. That's what makes the Premier League great.

"Between the last two seasons, it was between Arsenal and City, both of them had to keep on winning. Now we are involved at the moment as well. If you want to compete for something special, you have to win a lot of games. That's what we're focusing on."